3 of WWE's best Royal Rumble victories and 2 of their worst

We are over two weeks away from the 32nd edition of the historic Royal Rumble PPV. There is no denying that when it comes to Royal Rumble matches, they provide the best storylines, surprises, and suspense, as the fans are always kept on their toes, not knowing what will happen after each minute.

The element of surprise is something that you will not find in any other WWE PPV event. However, sometimes results can be very predictable, but nevertheless, we have had 32 winners of the Royal Rumble match already. That is 32 superstars who outlasted everybody else.

So here is a list that consists 3 of WWE's best Royal Rumble victories, as well as 2 of their worst.

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#5. Best - John Cena (2008 winner)

John Cena shocked the world by winning the 2008 Royal Rumble match

The 2008 Royal Rumble match was a very special one, due to the environment of the PPV event as it was held in the world's most famous arena: Madison Square Garden. The New York crowd was as fired up as you would expect them to be, and it created a fantastic atmosphere that just couldn't be missed.

The overall match began with two of WWE's biggest stars at the time, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, at #1 and #2 respectively. The Deadman had lasted for 32 minutes and 33 seconds whereas The Heartbreak Kid lasted just 7 seconds longer than Undertaker did, at 32 minutes and 39 seconds.

When you fast forward to 2019, you can just tell how significant that moment was as the two legends went onto put the matches of their careers at Wrestlemania 25 and 26.

It was John Cena's victory that was the most shocking aspect of the entire Royal Rumble 2008 match. The Franchise of the WWE was out with a torn pectoral muscle, and he was estimated to be out of action for at least 7 months to an entire year. But when his music hit, it created the loudest ovation of the night and the shocked face of Triple H when Cena eventually did come put the icing on the cake.

Cena then went on to get 6 eliminations, more than any other superstar during the match, and he then also eliminated Triple H over the top rope to gain his first Royal Rumble victory.

The Franchise then went onto cash in his Royal Rumble victory at No Way Out instead of Wrestlemania, in a bout against the WWE Champion at the time, Randy Orton.

#4. Worst - Roman Reigns (2015 winner)

Reigns and The Rock were booed due to the negative reaction following Reigns' win

The Royal Rumble 2015 match had the likes of Bray Wyatt, Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, and Dolph Ziggler, just to name a few, as those superstars were getting very big reactions during the match. However, the match itself fell very short of expectations due to Roman Reigns' predictable win.

It was a moment that angered the WWE Universe due to the fact that they did not want Reigns to win the Rumble. When Daniel Bryan got eliminated by Bray Wyatt after lasting 10 minutes and 36 seconds, that was the moment where the fans in Pittsburgh gave up on the entire match. It was clear that their choice to win the match was Bryan himself.

The dominance of Big Show and Kane was a very disappointing decision as well. Both men were members of The Authority, and they were used to eliminate plenty of superstars that the fans wanted to win.

They also came in the final four along with Reigns, in a decision that was made to get the fans to cheer Reigns, but it clearly didn't work as Reigns eliminated the both of them to loud boos.

When Rusev, who was an Anti-American character and the US Champion at the time, was playing possum during the match, he came back to enter the ring, and the fans were cheering him on to headline Wrestlemania 31. But it was another moment that fell short as Reigns eliminated The Bulgarian Brute with ease.

Despite the fact that The Rock also came out to endorse his cousin after the match, it should've been a moment for the passing of the torch. But instead, it was simply a moment to forget as there was nothing to stop the fans from booing Reigns, with The Rock also getting booed. This victory had led to Reigns facing Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania.

#3. Best - Steve Austin (2001)

A bloodied Austin fighting with Kane during the 2001 Royal Rumble match

The 2001 Royal Rumble was arguably one of the best Royal Rumble of WWE history. To start things off, you had two brothers in Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy at #1 and #3 respectively, as they would immediately begin to team up on all of their opponents for elimination. After that, the match itself would turn into nothing but absolute chaos as weapons were then brought into the ring.

This was the definition of a Hardcore Royal Rumble match, but things were then turned to perfection as we witnessed the stare off between The Rock and Steve Austin. It was definitely the most significant moment throughout the match because they were two of the biggest superstars during this era, and they were also the biggest rivals to each other. It was a moment that created goosebumps in the wrestling world.

Kane lasted 53 minutes and 46 seconds as well as gaining 11 eliminations, as he had broken the record for most Royal Rumble eliminations during the match itself at that time. This made The Big Red Machine look very vicious, but the entire event was focused on Steve Austin, who had returned from having his neck surgically repaired.

The match ended when Steve Austin, who had a bloodied face during the match, went onto eliminate Kane and put him over the top rope to go onto Wrestlemania 17 as he faced The Rock for the WWF Championship in a blockbuster match.

#2. Worst - Batista (2014)

Batista received loud boos during his 2014 Royal Rumble victory

Some may say that Reigns' victory at the 2015 Royal Rumble was the worst win of the PPV event's history, but Batista's win at the 2014 event was a whole lot worse. It was a moment that created an absolute nightmare because of one reason: the fans simply wanted Daniel Bryan to win the match.

The Animal returning on Raw and then going onto win the 2014 Royal Rumble was a decision that didn't make a lot of sense due to the fact that Daniel Bryan was at the peak of his career and the most over superstar in the WWE at the time. The fans felt like he was robbed out of the victory.

The former leader of the "Yes Movement" wasn't even in the match, so that tells you a lot about how the fans were feeling. And when Rey Mysterio's music hit, with the Master of 619 coming at #30, it was the first time in Rey's career as a babyface that he was being booed, and it was all because the fans were hell-bent on wanting Daniel Bryan, and nobody else.

Roman Reigns had a very dominant showcase in this Rumble match, as he went onto break Kane's record of most Royal Rumble eliminations by eliminating 12 superstars during the match. Unlike the following year's Royal Rumble where he got heavily booed, in this match, Reigns was in the final two with Batista.

The fans had hated Batista during that match so much, that despite being a heel at the time, Reigns was the man being cheered to get the victory. But despite Batista's win, he went onto main event Wrestlemania alongside Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton in a Triple Threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

#1. Best - Ric Flair (1992)

Flair's 1992 Royal Rumble victory was the most iconic of them all

Despite the fact that Ric Flair's Royal Rumble victory was back in 1992, there is no denying that his win remains the greatest victory in the Royal Rumble history. Royal Rumble 1992 was different from all the other matches before that because we saw that the stakes had been raised heavily.

This match was for the WWF Championship itself after Hulk Hogan had been stripped out of the title because there were two title switches filled with the controversy during Hogan and The Undertaker's matches at Survivor Series 1991 as well as This Tuesday in Texas 1991.

The Nature Boy had the best showing out of all the superstars in the match. He had lasted an hour and 2 seconds in the ring, which created a new record for longevity at that time. The match came to an end when Hulk Hogan came out after previously being eliminated by Sid Justice to help Flair with the victory by eliminating Justice from the match, making Flair the WWE Champion in the process.

Flair didn't get a clean victory, but at the same time, he didn't need to. The Nature Boy was also known as The Dirtiest Player in the Game, which is why an assist from Hogan made perfect sense at that very moment as it gave Flair the biggest moment of his WWF career whilst staying true to his character.